Ladybug Theme -1yr- Pin a Spot on Ladybug

For my daughter's first birthday, my husband and I decided on a ladybug theme. 

I had seen expensive ladybug invitations on stationery websites, but got the same look in a much cheaper way by using a wedding invitation kit I attached a 3-D ladybug scrapbook sticker on the top of the invitation, and then added a birthday poem with all of the party details.  I got some ideas from this site and used phrases like Fly on over to the party, Give us a Buzz if you can come, and We hope to Spot you there. 

I stuck a piece of magnetic tape on the back of the invitation and many guests remarked that it was a wonderful idea because they were able to just put the invitation on their refrigerator.  The invitations were such a heavy weight paper that they looked like they had been professionally printed.  I decorated the outside of the envelopes with ladybug stickers too. 

For games I made a Stick-the-Spot-on-the-Ladybug board and made black paper circles with each child's name for the spots.  My husband made a bean bag toss board which I painted with ladybugs and flowers and my mother-in-law made bean bags out of ladybug fabric.  I filled a jar with black & red berry gummi candies and had a Guess the Number game; it was easy to print out guessing tickets with ladybug clipart. 

Our last activity was a ladybug pinata.  I made each child a bag for their pinata treats by getting white paper bags and decorating them with ladybug stickers and writing each child's name on them.  That way as the children picked up the candy they had some where to put it.  Prizes for the games were candy bags, prize ribbons, and stickers. 

Favors for the children were ladybug cellophane bags (ordered from celebratetheday.biz) filled with glow-in-the-dark sidewalk chalk, ladybug kaleidoscopes, bug stickers, ladybug-wrapped chocolates, ladybug tape gum, Sweetart gummi bugs, and limited edition Hershey kisses that I found which were in black & red wrappers.   I also used the Hershey kisses as favors for the adults by filling little bags with them and adding bows made out of red ribbon with black spots.  Infants under one received copies of the books Ladybug's Birthday and Where is Baby's Belly Button, which is not a bug-themed book, but is one of my daughter's favorites. 

The party was held at a local country club, so we made sure they used red, black, and white linens.  I was limited in what other decorations I could hang, so I filled the entire area with Ladybug mylar balloons as well as red and black balloons.  We brought my daughter's highchair, and I decorated it with ladybug balloons and red balloons that had the number 1 printed on them.  I also made a ladybug garland for the front of her highchair the ladybugs had their wings open and I spelled out her name on them. 

I made the centerpieces by painting flowerpots with ladybugs and filling them with florist foam.  I had a local bakery make me ladybug and flower cookies on sticks, and I stuck them in the flowerpots with green paper grass.  They were inexpensive to make, looked wonderful, and gave the children an additional special treat to take home. 

The food was picnic fare, and the cake was decorated with flowers and ladybugs.  I made a small cake for my daughter to have that was decorated with flowers and ladybugs too I know that there are many recipes for ladybug-shaped cakes, but I felt that my daughter plus red and black icing was a disaster waiting to happen.  I also made my daughter a special birthday hat, which I decorated with red pom-poms that I painted to look like ladybugs.  My daughter was dressed in a ladybug outfit, and my husband and I wore red shirts with black shorts. 

For the Thank-you cards I used the reception cards that came with the invitation kit and printed a picture of my daughter eating her cake on the outside.  On the inside I printed a poem I wrote Ladybugs are lucky, and I know I'm lucky too, Because I celebrated my first birthday, With special friends and family like you!  Everyone had a wonderful time, and commented on how they couldn't believe how many things I had with ladybugs.  The party was easy to plan, and I'm already looking forward to planning my daughters second birthday!